A Soldier and Her Dog
by Deathgoyle
Summary: From the idea of an piece of art work. Don't you think Hope as a puppy would be cute. Rewriting in-progress. AU
1. Meeting

I got this idea from an art work on deviantart about Hope being a small dog, so it got me thinking what if Hope was a puppy. Of course I took some consideration into the breed.

* * *

Howls, whines, and barking filled the room.

"Come on, Claire could you at least try to look at them?" the pink haired woman said, looking up at her sister. A sigh escaped from the older woman. "Why are we even here in the first place?" came from the clearly annoyed soldier. "We're here because you refuse to let a man in your life, so to keep you company I'm getting you a dog," replied Serah.

More howling and barks continued to fill the room.

"Having a dog is like taking care of a child Serah," Lightning pointed out.

"But just think of it Claire since you work with the Corps you could get a higher position if you have a canine partner.

"Serah, that's not how it-," she cut off by a high squeal of the younger female who was looking at a puppy in the cage. Judging by the squeal Lightning knew she wouldn't get out of it easily. Sighing once more she walked to the cage to inspect the dog.

Crystal blue met luscious green.

That green was accompanied with snow white fur from head to tail.

The dog looked nothing more than a pup; though as far as puppies go this one didn't beg for so much attention. His eyes shined and his tail wagged.

"How does the name Snow sound?" Serah asked, smiling.

"We are not naming him after that idiot of a husband of yours!" snapped Lightning.

Serah merely giggled, "So you were thinking about getting him".

That stopped Lightning before turning to inspect the paper by the door.

"No, he just already has a name," she said, "It says that he's a white shepherd and that his name is Hope."

At the mention of his name the pup rose to his feet and slowly made his way to them. Lightning let her hand slip through the cage to touch the pup who in return pressed his head to her palm.

A woman who was watching walked over to them with a simple smile on her face. "Is there any way I can help with, maybe with some adoption papers?" she asked.

Serah looked at her sister and back to the woman then nodded.

On the way home Hope simply placed his head on Lightning's lap as Serah drove. After some shopping he was given a brown leather collar with his name and information, a stuffed moogle toy, and some dog food.

* * *

Edited 5/21/2014

Can anyone spot the changes?


	2. Night

Microsoft Word is sexist, it only acknowledges Hope as a female name!

Edited 5/29/14

I own nothing.

* * *

Night had fallen on Hope's first day as the soldier's pet. As she settled into her bed Hope gave a small whimper. She turned her head to Hope.

"What do you want?"

Another whimper passed through the pup.

"You've been fed, and I let you out earlier, what else could you possibly need?"

Hope moved closer to the bed, placed his front paws on the bed, tilted his head, and mustered up the saddest dog-eyed look he could. Finally she knew what he wanted.

"No," she said firmly.

Hope tried jumping up on the bed but couldn't get a grip and fell on his butt.

_Snort_

The pup almost couldn't believe it, she was _laughing_ at him. Hope shook his head and narrowed his eyes with his newfound resolve.

He was getting up there.

Hope looked around for a way up and spied a shoe box near the foot of the bed. Using the box as a stepping stone and jumped up onto the bed.

His body sat dangerously close to her legs.

Lightning narrowed her eyes then gave Hope a not-too-gentle-kick swiftly to the floor.

"Sleep on the ground mutt," she growled, before getting up to move the box underneath the bed.

Poor Hope silently made his way to the edge of the room by the door and lay down for the night.

* * *

_Crack!_

Hope was abruptly wakened by a loud roar of thunder accompanied with sound of heavy rain fall. The rain fell harshly on the roof shaking the poor pup even further.

Lightning, however, slept undisturbed.

Another roar of thunder passed.

_Whine_

Lightning stirred and turned towards the offending sound with groggy eyes.

_Whine _

"You're not going to let me sleep are you?"

Hope moved closer and put his paws on the mattress and let out another whine.

Light sighed and picked up the pup and set him down on the other pillow. She lay back down and gave a single order.

"Go to sleep"

Hope could only silently comply.

As the rain began to settle down Hope slowly let himself drift into slumber next to the pink haired woman beside him.

A quite thought came into his mind that hummed close to his heart.

This might not be so bad.

* * *

I'm actually crying on the inside right now, just how did I let all those typos go through? How many times have edited this one chapter?


	3. Morning

The tone has changed...

Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own FFXIII.

* * *

Lightning had thought she was still dreaming when she woke up nose-to-nose with Hope until the memories of last night filled in the blanks. She let out a yawn before getting out of bed.

She had to get ready for the day.

30 minutes later Hope woke up to the smell of bacon, and rushed out the door to the kitchen. He was greeted by the sight of Lighting setting the bacon down on a plate on the counter. The food wasn't all that filled the air, there was a faint sweet aroma of vanilla shampoo from her damp hair that clung to her neck. The shampoo's scent dazed Hope for a while as he made his way to his master. The pup lifted his gaze to the counter, and his mouth flooded at the sight of the sausage, eggs and the biscuit and gravy that accompanied the bacon.

Light noticed the hungry look and gave Hope an all knowing smirk.

"You hungry boy?"

Hope's jaw was still out when he gave a nod.

"Well then eat," she said motioning towards his food bowl.

Hope's face fell and he sighed at the plain dog food and quickly wolfed it down in hopes of getting scrapes.

By the time he finished Light didn't leave a scrap behind for him. Hope still hungry rolled onto his back and gave his owner a pleading look.

"There's nothing left, I'm not your chef you know"

_Whine_

A sigh passed her lips "Give me a minute".

The pup got back on all fours and wagged his tail in victory.

Lightning made her way to the pantry and began to wonder why she was letting the pup get his way. She scanned the shelves until a bag of chicken jerky caught her eye.

She held out her hand filled with jerky to Hope, he it sniffed before he gingerly ate from her hand. She let a small smile cross her face as she felt his tongue lick the center of her palm. It would have made a cute moment if someone hadn't knocked on the door followed by a booming voice.

"Sis, I brought everyone now let's have the gang see its new member!"

So much for an easy morning…

* * *

Edited 5/29/14

Yay, I'm almost done revising!


	4. Boomerang

Still crying here… Once again I own nothing.

* * *

As the door opened Lightning's fist had a reunion with Snow's face and left a nice nearly dislocated jaw.

"Claire, quit abusing my husband," Serah whined.

"It's his fault for bringing everybody," replied her sister.

Behind the smaller woman, a smirk crossed Fang's face, "Well soldier girl are you going to let us in or not".

Light sighed and moved aside let them enter her home. While Snow headed for the kitchen for ice the rest of the gang went into the living room to inspect the new member.

Vanille squealed in delight at the sight of the pup.

Hope felt almost scared, but calmed down surely he wasn't in any danger.

Right?

A little chirp could be heard from Sazh's afro and a small chocobo chick popped out and took flight. Everyone watched as the chick hovered around Hope before landing on the pup's nose. Dog and bird stared at each other until the chick gave Hope the chirp of approval. Sazh smiled and scooped up the chocobo into his hand, while Dajh walked over to pet Hope.

Vanille couldn't take it anymore ran to the startled pup, gathered him in her arms, and squeezed him tight. Poor Hope struggled to break free.

He would struggled have been longer if Fang hadn't stepped in. As the pup caught his breath he heard the dark haired woman laugh. "Hey runt, you know you're quite the ladies man."

Hope, though nearly impossible, pouted. "Runt"?

Snow came over with an ice pack with him.

"Hey, Fang why don't you give him some jerky?"

Fang thought about it for a moment before setting the jerky down for Hope which he gladly ate.

Light noticed.

_Hm, so that's where the jerky came from_, she shrugged, _Oh, well not my gil_.

As the others circled around Hope no one noticed that Serah pulled Light aside.

"Claire," she started, "Snow has something for Hope let's get everyone in backyard."

"Fine, but if he make a mess he cleans it".

After that Snow had been able to get everyone outside to present Hope…

"A Boomerang?" came from a confused Sazh.

Snow grinned and answered, "Yes, so when Hope gets bored or gets no love from Lightning he can take it out on this boomerang".

"Just watch," Snow threw the boomerang, yellow and orange cutting through the blue. Hope was fascinated by the moving object as was everyone else, so much that Snow forgot the catch it. Serah once again had to play nurse for her husband.

The young pup slowly made his way to the lying boomerang. Taking it into his mouth, planted his feet, pulled back his head, and launched it into the air. The boomerang flew forward before hurling right back Hope, watching closely, managed to jump catching it in his mouth. The gang stared at the pup in shock before congratulating him.

Hope merely made his way of to Light and dropped the boomerang in front of her, look up for her reaction. Light smiled and simply gave him small pat on the head in approval.

Night came leading to goodbyes and reminders to visit, the front door shut closed leaving only dog and master. Knowing he would beg like before she lifted Hope into her arms and carried him to the bedroom and sat him down on the edge of the bed. Hope sleepily crawled to "his" pillow and snuggled down for the night.

* * *

Truly I'm still not happy with this one but this is the best I could do for now. Maybe I should re-read some FFXIII fics to get a better leash on this.

Updated 9/8/2014


End file.
